First Steps
by Akatsuki Leader13
Summary: SEQUEL IS UP! Four friends find themselves torn from the world they knew, cast adrift by destiny from everyone and everything they knew. A new path now lays before them, all they have to do is take the first step...


Yo everybody! Back with something a little different from my usual fare, a crossover and a one-shot.

Now over the years I've developed a bit of a love/hate relationship with crossover fics. It seems like for every one that's good/interesting/different I've found there are about a dozen that are bland things following the same basic ideas over and over again.

Since the end of November, beginning of December I've been working on a number of crossover one-shot ideas I have that tend to defy the more normal, overused conventions or at least try to present them in different ways. This one just happens to be the first one I finished, a Bleach-Kingdom Hearts story that doesn't see the central protagonists and/or villains teaming up for some particularly convoluted reasons. If I did decide to turn this into a full story it wouldn't have other Bleach characters appearing save perhaps for flashbacks/illusions/hallucinations.

Anyway on with the show.

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or Kingdom Hearts.

* * *

Tatsuki Arisawa groaned as she rolled over onto her back, her entire body aching worse than it had after the Nationals last summer. Slowly she opened her eyes, greeted by sunlight poking through heavy clouds. It was cloudy but at least it didn't look like rain was coming. _'Must have fallen asleep,'_ she thought as she started to sit up. _'Strange that I'd fall asleep outside on the…'_

She froze as she became truly aware of her surroundings. The uneven ground was nothing but rock and dusty reddish-brown dirt. Towering jagged mountains surrounded her, reaching up to the cloud-filled sky. She wasn't in Karakura anymore. But how had she gotten here?

As she staggered back up to her feet Tatsuki tried to remember what happened before she woke up here. It had been a couple days since Orihime disappeared and Ichigo had the gull to deny that he knew what was going on before running off to save her. That strange shopkeeper, Urahara had explained some of what was going on, telling them how Ichigo had become a shinigami back in the spring and how because of that all of them had been affected. Orihime and Chad had gotten their own powers while the rest of them had just gained the ability to see spirits of the dead and hollows, corrupted, violent spirits that consumed others. And they had made enemies, a shinigami named Aizen. This man had taken Orihime and was plotting to take over the world, the afterlife and everything else. Ichigo and the others had gone out to stop him and save Orihime, leaving them behind again. Not that they could have done anything to help but it still hurt that they had kept all of this from them, that they had to find this all out from a complete stranger rather than them. How many years had she and Ichigo been friends? Didn't she deserve some kind of explanation?

Tatsuki shook her head, dispelling the painful thoughts. Dwelling on those thoughts weren't going to help right now.

But aside from that and her constant worrying about Ichigo and Orihime the day had been completely normal until suddenly she found herself collapsing into a dreamless slumber. When she managed to regain consciousness she found that the entire town was asleep. Whatever had knocked her out had affected everyone. However like her both Keigo and Mizuiro had woken too and eventually so did Chizuru. But after a while it became clear they weren't the only ones awake in Karakura…

_Tatsuki could only stare wide eyed in horror as winged man calmly walked towards them. Nothing could stop him…_

_Not Mizuiro's improvised firebomb, not the shinigami's sword, not even the total disintegration of his body. The man in white was utterly indestructible._

_He had already slain his fox-faced 'ally' who had tried to kill him, the two shinigami, Rangiku and the afro one, even Don Kanonji. All that was left was the four of them. And if those four couldn't even scratch him what chance did they have. They couldn't even run from him._

"_Now that the last annoyances have been dealt with I can finish what I started," the man commented, raising his left hand. "Normally I wouldn't bother with such insignificant beings as yourselves but I wish to see the full extent of Ichigo Kurosaki's power." Black energy surged around his fingers. "And your deaths will be the catalyst."_

_Lances of energy leapt off his fingertips, flying at them with lightning speed. There was no time to run, to dodge or do anything else. The lances pierced their bodies… but it didn't hurt. As her knees grew weak that one thought kept repeating through her mind, 'It doesn't hurt…'_

"_AIZEN!" she heard someone scream as blackness began to crawl out from the corners of eyes._

_She knew that voice but she couldn't remember who it was; her mind was fading just as the world around her was. Her knees gave out and she fell forward but the darkness took her before she hit the pavement…_

Tatsuki's heart skipped a beat as the terrible realization dawned on her, the man in white—Aizen killed them… killed _her_. She was dead. But she didn't have those broken chains that the ghosts all seemed to have and her body felt solid and… well living. Then again Rukia and those other shinigami seem pretty solid and living at least compared to spirits. If this was what it meant to be dead then how was it any different from living? And what about getting killed a second time? Letting out a frustrated groan she threw her hands through her. Her brain just couldn't process all this crazy spiritual nonsense. Why couldn't life be simple and straight forward?

And if she was dead what did that make this place? The afterlife? Urahara had only mentioned he afterlife once during their little talk and nothing he said made it sound anything like this. Though if this was the 'Soul Society' she could see why Rukia wanted to stick around.

Tatsuki shook her head. Whatever this place was she wasn't going to figure it out here. With no other option she began to walk, hoping to find someone or something that could help her out.

Save for her footsteps and the wind howling between the mountains it was quiet, deathly quiet. It put her on edge. She couldn't help but think about a few of the lame horror movies she had seen before. This was the kind of moment in those where the lone teen was ambushed and killed by the monster or deranged killer. A stupid, silly thing to think about but she knew monsters were real. But better to be cautious and safe than reckless and dead… again. If she was actually dead.

Damn Ichigo for getting her into this mess and screwing with her perceptions of life and death.

Eventually she managed to make her way out of the shadow of the mountains, arriving at a rocky outcrop overlooking a field. It was just as desolate and barren as the mountains. There wasn't an ounce of life anywhere here, just more rock and dirt. But there was something out there that caught her attention. A large field filled with what appeared to be metal rods though as this distance she couldn't say for certain. It was an oddity sure but not likely something that would help her in anyway.

And yet there was… _something_ about them that drew her attention.

Tatsuki slumped down on a nearby boulder, looking out on the desolate landscape. She was possibly dead and stuck in some wasteland with no idea how to get back. Though at least there wasn't anyone trying to kill her here.

Suddenly the crunch of feet on rocks caught her attention. Tatsuki glanced over her shoulder at the source of the sound; it was a familiar face that was approaching her. "Mizuiro," she commented. "So you ended up here too."

"Yes, wherever here is," Mizuiro Kojima replied, absently flipping his phone open and shut in his left hand.

Her eyes glanced down at the phone, hoping against hope that it was working. "Do you have a signal?"

Mizuiro shook his head, flipping the phone shot one last time. "No and the battery is nearly drained."

"Wait I thought you charged it back in Karakura."

"I did," the dark haired boy said, shrugging his shoulders. "I think we were unconscious for a lot long than it seems."

She wasn't expecting it to be working but stranger things had happened. And after everything that had happened they deserved a break. A working phone that could connect with someone that could help would have been a big break.

"Did you see any sign of Chizuru or Keigo?" Mizuiro asked, surprising her a little.

She hadn't thought about them but they had been hit too. "No. You?" Tatsuki replied.

The boy shook his head. "I guess we should look around just in case," he said. "If we ended up here they probably did too."

Tatsuki couldn't disagree with his logic and if they had ended up here too it would be better if they were altogether. She stood up from the boulder, dusting her skirt off. "Yeah let's go. Any idea where we should start?"

"I was thinking about over there," Mizuiro answered, pointing out to the field. "It is a noticeable landmark in this otherwise empty place. It's quite possible that they'd be drawn there."

For a moment Tatsuki just stared at the teen. Was he getting the same feeling as her about that field? But Mizuiro's calm expression didn't betray his thoughts. Before she had always thought Mizuiro was just polite and mild mannered but now she was beginning to realize that it wasn't quite the case.

Still it was about as good an idea as any. "Alright," she said, nodding her head.

Neither said anything else as they headed off to the field. Maybe they'd find the two of them there and just maybe they'd figure something out too.

* * *

The walk to the field had been quiet and uneventful. No surprise given how dead the place was. However as they approached the field they found craters and deep gashes in the ground and the mountains surrounding them. Something had happened here, something big. Mizuiro let out a whistle as he stared at a mountain with a huge circular hole through the side. Yeah something big had definitely happened here.

Eventually they managed to reach the edge of the field and its rusted metal objects. They weren't rods but strange swords, their blades stabbed into the ground. There tons of them littering the ground, so many that would be difficult to pass through if it wasn't for the clear crossroads running through them all. The swords themselves were all different shapes, sizes and designs but all were equally old and rusted. However there was something strange about them, each had some form protrusion jutting out of one side of the blade's end.

"Guys!" a loud, annoying but familiar voice called out. "Hey guys! Over here!"

The two of them turned left, to the source of the voice. Maybe two dozen feet away and waving his arms was Keigo Asano and just behind him, looking nervous and uneasy was Chizuru Honshō.

"You two alright Keigo?" Mizuiro asked as they approached.

"Yeah we're fine," Keigo casually replied as Chizuru chewed on her thumbnail.

Physically Chizuru looked alright but beyond that she wasn't. Tatsuki could see that. Not that she could blame her given all that they had been through. They at least had known a little bit about all this before Aizen showed up and chased them around the city. Now ending up wherever here was couldn't be helping matters for her. But like the rest of them she'd have to suck it up until they could figure out what's going on.

"So any idea what these big key things are?" Keigo asked, flicking his finger against one.

Tatsuki shook her head. "Keys? What are you talking about? They're clearly swords."

"Look at those teeth on them," the brown haired teen argued. "What kind of sword has teeth like that?"

While Tatsuki had to admit that those protrusions did the teeth of keys they still looked more like swords than keys. "Look at those handles," she pointed out. "Those are sword handles. Besides who has keys that big?"

"Giants."

Tatsuki drew a blank for second after Keigo said that, staring at him like he had grown a second head. "What?"

"These keys could belong to giants," Keigo explained matter-of-factly.

"Seriously? What are you five?" Tatsuki shot back.

"Oh so you've seen ghosts, masked monsters and that freaking butterfly-man but giants with keys are too much for you?"

Tatsuki let out a groaning sigh and slapped her face in disbelief. She couldn't figure out if he was trying to be funny or if he was just an idiot. Probably both knowing him.

"Actually I think they might be both," Mizuiro commented, kneeing down in front of some of them. "I wonder what they could be for."

"Who cares what they are!" Chizuru suddenly exclaimed, startling everyone. She was at her wit's end, they could all see that. "How did we end up here?! Who was that man in white that killed those people?! And why did he want to kill us?!"

Tatsuki glanced over at Keigo and Mizuiro. Both had the same look on their faces, probably the same look she had, the 'how do we explain this' look. It wasn't really their story they were just caught up in it. That said Chizuru deserved to know what she had gotten mixed up in with them. In the end they took turns explaining what little bits they knew about everything that had happened over the last few months as well as what bits Urahara told them which was far more than Ichigo had. That has also included that Ichigo and the others had gained some very dangerous enemies, the kind that weren't above targeting their family and friends, targeting them.

"Spirits, shinigami, soul-eating monsters! It's all insane! It can't be real!" the red head screamed, shaking in disbelief.

Chizuru was taking it better than Tatsuki had expected. Hell if she hadn't seen some of it personally she would have been in as much denial if not more. "Believe me as much as I wish it wasn't, it's all real," she said, putting a hand on her friend's shoulder. "Ichigo and the others will find us and get us out of here."

…at least she hoped they would.

"Ah guys…" Keigo nervously called out, pointing a finger at something behind them. "Not to interrupt or anything but what is that?"

It was a small black humanoid creature staring at them with glowing yellow eyes. Tatsuki hadn't seen anything like it before and it didn't _seem_ dangerous but she couldn't shake this sense of unease in her chest.

"I think we should keep our distance," Mizuiro said, taking a step back.

The hunched over creature turned its head to one side, watching them with its lifeless eyes. But then a small shadow formed on the ground a foot away from it and another identical creature crawled out from the shadow. Then another appeared behind them, followed by a fourth one by the first. They began to creep forward, more of them spawning behind them. "Yeah… I think we should get out of here," Mizuiro added, still sounding calm.

Which was more than could be said for the others.

"Run!" Keigo screamed, sprinting off down the path between the swords, keys or whatever they were.

The three of them turned and took off after him. One of those creatures might not be all that dangerous but a bunch of them was another story. Swarms of ants could take down larger insects; those things could probably do the same. Then again those things probably could do worse, a lot worse.

Tatsuki glanced back over shoulder. At least they weren't the fastest things around with those little legs. Unfortunately there had to be over a dozen of them now chasing after them. _'Great… We go from one life and death chase to another. Our luck can't be _that_ bad.'_

Suddenly four of the creatures slid back into their shadows and once they disappeared the shadows raced forward across the ground, slipping past them. Then once they were ten feet or so ahead of them the creatures reappeared, quickly joined by more of the rapidly spawning beasts. The four of them stopped dead in their tracks, surrounded by the creatures.

Chizuru let out a cry that sounded like it was one half scream one half sob. Keigo was trembling, his eyes darting back and forth searching a way out. Even Mizuiro wore a look of dread on his normally stoic face. They were screwed they all knew it, completely and utterly screwed. Monsters behind them, monsters in front of them and the dense piles of sword-key things blocking the sides cutting off every possible avenue of escape. Tatsuki raised up her fists, sliding into a fighting stance. While idea of touching those shadowy things wasn't appealing she wasn't about to go down without a fight, even if it meant going barehanded against pint-sized monsters. Still she would have liked something, anything, even a stick to fight these things.

Tatsuki froze, a realization hitting her. They were surrounded by swords! Old rusted swords but swords nevertheless. Even if the blades were too dull to cut she could still bash these things over the head with them. She spun around to the swords and reached out, her hands wrapping around the hilt of the nearest sword.

"What are you doing Tatsuki?!" Keigo exclaimed.

"We need something to defend ourselves with!" she shouted back as she started to pull with all her might. "This is better than nothing so grab one!"

The others didn't need to be told twice, grabbing onto other swords. Tatsuki grunted pulling with all her might, her muscles straining. It was wedged in the ground pretty good but it was starting to give. With one final tug the sword popped out of the ground.

But the instant it did a bright light erupted from the sword, blinding her. When the white cleared from her eyes the sword had… changed. Not only was rust and other wear and tear gone but the entire weapon had changed into a new blade. Before it had been a long but narrow straight blade with five square teeth at the end, two small ones sitting between three big ones but now the blade started off narrow at the base growing wider as it went up. Its teeth narrow triangles at a forty-five degree angle with razor sharp edges. There were three on the front of the blade of increasing while a fourth one sat at the top of the back. Its guard was still round and surround the front and back of the hilt but now had six small points, three on each side. Hanging from the end of the hilt on a chain was an emblem. It was a six sided star or flower with alternating points. Three of them were a light blue, identical to Orihime's flower pins while every other point was a straight crimson line that curved to the right at the end. The blade was a dark metallic silver but the teeth were light blue and the guard was red, the colors of the emblem.

"What the…" Tatsuki murmured as she held the blade up to face, inspecting the weapon. Despite its size the sword was surprisingly light and felt more like an extension of her arm rather than a weapon she had just picked up from the ground. And she wasn't the only one holding a new sword, everyone else was too.

Keigo was holding his up too, looking at it with mixture of awe and excitement like a kid in a candy store for the first time. His sword was longer than hers by an inch or so, the blade was straight and double-edged like a Western sword. However near the top the blade became narrower before returning to back to its original size. At that narrow section were the teeth of the sword, a single empty diamond shape tooth with a smaller solid diamond jutting a third of the way into the larger. Opposite the tooth was a small spike. The sword's guard didn't go completely around the handle like hers instead it ended two-thirds of the way down. Its emblem was a dark blue diamond with wing-shaped protrusions coming out of its top two sides. The blue color was also on the sword's teeth and guard while the blade was a polish grayish-silver.

Chizuru held hers in trembling hands, almost like she was afraid of cutting herself just by touching it. The entire slightly curved shaft of the weapon was made up of seven bright red and gold trimmed crescents with an eighth that had a side that stretched up into a ring and from that round head three curved teeth emerged. However despite their appearance the crescents weren't sharp. The hand guard was made of two half circles, one arching across the top, the other around the bottom with a tiny gap between. The sword's emblem consisted of four red crescents joined into a diamond shape.

Finally there was Mizuiro who was studying the weapon he held in his left hand intently. Out of all them his resembled a key more than a sword. Its handguard was hexagonal in shape attached to a straight narrow shaft. Near the top of the shaft were its teeth, a square frame tipped with two small teeth resting between two larger ones. Unlike theirs it devoid of color beyond shades of grey. The shaft was a silver-grey while its teeth and guard were dark grey, almost black in color. Hanging off the end of the handle's chain was a small diamond inside a square inside a larger diamond.

The monsters, stunned by the sudden flashes of light resumed their creeping advance on them. Keigo lifted up his sword, gripping it with both hands in a practiced stance despite the nervous look on his face. She had heard that Keigo had been dragged into the kendo club a couple weeks ago by her sister so out of all of them he was the only with any real experience at this sort of thing. Tatsuki shook her head at that truly absurd notion and gripped her sword with both hands, mirroring Keigo's stance. She never really tried kendo before but in her younger years she and Ichigo had played mock swordfights with tree branches. Plus she was a skilled martial artist so she had other experience in fighting. If she was going to go down, she was going to go down swinging. In the corner of her eye she saw Chizuru and Mizuiro followed suit, lifting up their weapons with both hands though their stances were far sloppier than either of theirs. But at least it was something.

One of the creatures leaped at her but Tatsuki was faster, slamming her weapon down on it. The diminutive monster struck the ground and burst into a small black mist that almost instantly dissipated. Another rose up from a shadow by her feet, its hands reaching up for her. Instinctively Tatsuki jumped, thrusting her sword into the half-emerged thing. Like the first one it died in a shadowy mist.

Nearby, Keigo let out a cry as he killed two of the creatures in a wide horizontal swing of his sword. "Yeah!" he cheered. "Look at that! I—gah!"

A third jumped at him, silencing him as he just barely managed to defend himself before retaliating. Tatsuki shook her head at his antics. The idiot deserved that. Still he was holding his own against these things. Who would have thought that the cowardly goofball Keigo Asano would actually be good with a sword and monster-slaying?

Tatsuki drove her sword into another creature before lowering it for a second. Then again who would have thought Keigo would have had the guts to charge at a man whose very presence could disintegrate matter with nothing more than a stolen sword. Maybe deep down Keigo wasn't actually a coward.

Suddenly Keigo let out a girlish shriek and jumped back as a monster nearly scratched him.

Well… maybe _really _deep down.

A quick glance at the others confirmed that they too were holding their own against the monsters. Chizuru's swings were wild and frantic, more like attempts to ward off the creatures than actually attacking them. But she still managed to strike down a few of them. Mizuiro was fighting defensively as well but where Chizuru was lashing out in fear the shorter boy was methodical and focused. A creature swiped at him with a shadowy limb but Mizuiro brought his weapon up, blocking the blow and pushing the off-balance beast back before following up his own attack.

It wasn't long before what had seemed like an overwhelming horde began to dwindle, shrinking into a small pack before becoming a handful. Finally those few were slain, disappearing into the dark mist. Silence descended on the field, save for the sounds of the wind and their breathing. Tatsuki looked back and forth, scanning for any lingering threat but there wasn't any. They were safe, for now anyway.

"Wow… We actually did it…" Keigo uttered, looking completely dumbstruck. After a second a grin spread across his face and jumped into the air. "Yeah! We did it! We did it!"

Normally she would have given a few slaps on the head for being so annoying but she was too focused on the weapon in her hands. It wasn't the same rusted sword she had picked up so where had it come from? And what about those monsters, they weren't like the masked hollows she had seen before. What were those shadow creatures? Tatsuki lowered her new weapons. Those weren't the only questions running her mind either. Where were they? How did they get here? How were they going to get back? Could they get back? Were they even alive anymore?

"Quite commendable," an old rasping voice called out as the sound of clapping filled the air.

The four of them tensed, turning around to the source of the voice their weapons once again raised. Approaching them was a figure draped in a brown hooded cloak. The slow moving man was hunched over from age, the tanned skin of his hands wrinkled and boney. However the hood obscured much of his face, leaving only his mouth and chin exposed. "An admirable display for a quartet of novices," the old man said. "Despite your apparent inexperience I never once thought you needed my help."

Tatsuki sighed in relief, letting out the breath she hadn't been aware she was holding. A friendly face, their luck was _finally _changing. Maybe he could explain what was going on. "Who are you?" she asked.

"Me? I'm just an old man, a caretaker for this old graveyard," the man replied with a shrug of his shoulders.

"This is graveyard? Looks more like a battlefield," Keigo blurted out.

She couldn't deny that. The craters and scars that littered the area looked like the signs of battle or some kind of disaster.

The caretaker's response was simple. "It was."

"What happened here?" Mizuiro neutrally asked a suspicious look in his eyes. "And why are you here?"

Tatsuki shook her head at the shorter boy's tone. It wasn't _exactly _rude but was pretty close to being rude. Antagonizing a person you just met was never a good idea.

But the caretaker ignored his tone and extended out hand, gesturing towards the key-swords. "These lifeless keys used to be full of power, united with the hearts of their masters. On this barren soil Keyblades of light and darkness were locked in combat as a great Keyblade War raged long ago," he explained. "Countless Keyblade wielders gave up their lives, all in search of one, ultimate key…" The man paused for a moment, seemingly mulling something over. He shook his head. "But that is a story for another time. This graveyard of Keyblades is testament to that war and what it was fought for."

"Keyblades…" Tatsuki muttered out loud, looking down again at the weapon she was holding. "Is that what these things are called?"

The caretaker nodded his head. "Yes. And as to why I am here I came because I sensed something strange, something that attracted the Heartless."

Tatsuki looked up at him, cocking eyebrow. "Heartless?"

"Monsters born of the darkness within people's hearts," the man answered. "They exist only to consume other hearts, birthing more of their kind. However as they are driven to devour hearts there is something else that they hunt for with equal vigor."

"What?"

"Chosen wielders of Keyblades such as yourselves," the caretaker explained.

Everyone tensed at those words. That wasn't something they wanted to hear. Chizuru dropped her Keyblade on the ground, stepping back from it like it carried the plague or something. The caretaker let out a chuckle. "I'm afraid that won't help you," he said. "Your Keyblade is connected to your heart. Throwing it away will not rid you of it nor will it discourage the Heartless from hunting you."

And things were turning bad again… From being chased by in destructible man who wanted to kill them to being stuck in a wasteland with black monsters that wanted to devour them. They just couldn't get a break.

"Do not worry. It will be some time before more come," the caretaker reassured. "And you will all be somewhere much safer by then."

"This isn't Earth," Mizuiro suddenly commented, catching them all off guard. "This is another world isn't it?"

Tatsuki hated to admit it but she was thinking along the same line for awhile now though her mind had drifted more towards being in some level of the afterlife rather than a different world. But if they really were still alive than it was unlikely they were in the afterlife.

"That rather arrogantly implies that your world is the prime world rather than just one of many worlds," the hooded man chided. "But yes this is one world among countless others."

At least that answered one question. They weren't in the afterlife which meant they were still alive. That was a relief. "Okay how do we get back home?" Tatsuki asked.

The old man paused for a moment, a hand scratching his chin. "There are some ways to travel between the worlds however few are safe and certainly not for untrained novices like yourself."

"Well maybe you could come with us," Keigo said, his voice filled with hope. "I mean you clearly know a lot about all this so couldn't you help us out here?"

The caretaker shook his head. "Sorry but I'm an old man, too old for such travel now."

Keigo winced but like the rest of them wasn't deterred by that. If travel between worlds possible they could go out and find their world themselves, all they needed was a hand. "Okay… how many worlds are out there?"

"No one knows," the man admitted with a shrug. "Some say that there is a world for every star in the night sky. In my long, long life I've only been to what amounts to a few handfuls of worlds in comparison to the number of stars out there."

Tatsuki paled as her hope found hope was crushed. If there was _that_ many worlds out there… they'd never find their world…

"I don't suppose that you're familiar with Earth?" Keigo quietly, desperately asked.

The older man shook his head. "No I can't say I am," he said. "Which is another problem you have. Unless you know the route you could scour the Sea of Stars for centuries and never find your home."

Silence descended on the teens, their hopes of getting home completely dashed. Tatsuki found herself completely and utterly at a loss for what to do. She had never been like before. Even when Orihime had gone missing and Ichigo was refusing to even acknowledge that he knew what was going and tried to ditch them. She knew she had to follow him and beat the answers out of him. But now… now there was nothing, absolutely nothing she could think of doing to solve this.

"There has to be way to get back home…" a devastated Chizuru uttered, staring off into space and chewing on a thumbnail. "There just has to be."

"Perhaps there might be," the caretaker said, his voice piercing the bleak hopelessness that had fallen on them. All of them turned to him wearing looks of desperation. "There is an order of Keyblade warriors, secret peacekeepers of the worlds. They keep detailed records and maps of the worlds they've encountered and explored," he continued. "If one of them has visited your world they will know how to get there."

"Alright!" Keigo cheered, thrusting his free arm in air. "All we got to do is get there and they'll get us home!"

Tatsuki couldn't help but agree with Asano, the huge weight sliding off his chest. If those people were mapping out all those worlds they could help them get back. They were gonna make it home after all.

"It's not that simple, is it?" Mizuiro commented, a neutral expression on his face.

The three teens looked at the dark haired boy like he had grown a second head or something. _'Is Kojima the world's biggest buzzkill or something?'_ Tatsuki thought.

"No it is not," the man admitted. "I said _if_ one of them visited your world, there's no guarantee that any of them have. Nor would they just send you back there."

"Why not?!" Chizuru demanded, practically yelling at the man.

But the man stood unmoved by her shouts. "Because they don't like to let chosen wielders slip through their grasp," he explained.

"Chosen? Us?" the glasses-wearing girl uttered, looking like she was going to completely lose it. "We're just ordinary people. We're not special!"

The caretaker shook his head. "No you are wrong my dear. Like it or not you have all been chosen to wield Keyblades," he replied. "Strange there would be four of you together from the same world and even stranger that you ended up here but I have long learned that strange isn't necessarily a bad thing."

"Speak for yourself," Tatsuki muttered. "I've had just about enough of strange to last a lifetime." Still if it meant a shot at getting home she was willing to work for that order, they all would.

"Fair enough," the man said with a chuckle as he reached into the folds of his cloak. "Of course one's definition of strange changes over time as they experience new things. Indeed a person's very nature changes and evolves over time. I wonder what kind of people you'll be tomorrow, a month from now, a year."

He pulled out a light blue round crystal that was a bit larger than a baseball from his robes, holding it out for them to see. "What is that?" Keigo asked.

"It is a means of transportation we use when we find newly chosen wielders. It will take you to our training halls in world known as the Land of Departure," the hooded man explained as he held it out closer to them. "Each of you must put a hand on it."

For a moment none of them reached out for it until Mizuiro put his hand on one side. Tatsuki followed, cautiously placing her hand on the opposite side. Keigo squeezed his hand between theirs but Chizuru hesitated. "It's either go with them or stay here in this wasteland," the caretaker commented.

The red haired girl reluctantly placed hers on top of the crystal, earning a nod from the man. The crystal started to glow. Tatsuki tensed, a part of her wanting to let go while another was terrified to.

"Ah… why is it called the Land of Departure?" a nervous Keigo asked.

"You'll understand why one day," the old man replied, a hint of amusement in his voice. "One more thing, do not let go or you'll die."

A flash of bright light erupted from the crystal blinding them as a force pulled them up off the ground, hurling them upwards like a rocket. There was a scream but Tatsuki couldn't whose it was even if it could have been her. Then after what seemed both like an instant and an eternity the light faded and the force pulling them stopped, the four of them falling backwards and crashing onto the hard ground.

Tatsuki blinked, trying to clear the white dots from her eyes. The sky above her was clear and sunny with just a few clouds here and there, not unlike how it had been in Karakura before they got swept up in all this madness. It was relaxing to look at bringing back a sense of calm and peace that hadn't realized she was missing until now. Just maybe things would turn around for them now.

Little did she know just what lay ahead of her, ahead of them...

* * *

And done. First one I started, first one I finished. And one of three I'm working that I wouldn't mind continuing, if the demand is high enough. Partly because I've kind of longed to do a Kingdom Hearts rewrite for a long time but until recently I've had few ideas for it. Writing this however, plus recently getting a 3DS and Kingdom Hearts 3D has given me some interesting ideas. I _could _do it without it being a crossover but I actually like it this way more.

The Keyblades were a particularly fun part for me and I most went through several iterations before I settled on the final ones. And there is meaning behind them. Oh and no I haven't though up names for them this does lead to a full story I'll come up with names.

Tatsuki's had two inspirations for it. The first being her strong connection to Ichigo and Orihime. The other being her competitive nature which is why all of her's tended to be big, strong and sturdy-looking. Terra's Keyblades were a big source of inspiration for her.

Keigo's had the least variation mainly because I had the concept down from the beginning. For Keigo I wanted something that looked like an archetypal hero sword as the base of it. Why? Well again two reasons. First in manga when they went to that festival before the Soul Society Arc Keigo revealed that during the week before he had been stuck with nothing to do but to play RPGs, beating five of them in seven days. Second underneath that goofball exterior is a hero. He was willing to attack Aizen with a stolen zanpakuto just to buy time for the others. He knew he stood no chance whatsoever but was going to anyway. That was the most selflessly heroic act I've seen in the entire series and it was done by a powerless, minor comic relief character. I wanted something heroic-looking for him.

For Chizuru I wanted something that stood out from the others, symbolizing that she's the odd man (girl) out. She knows even less than the others do about what's going on in the Bleach storyline and I intentionally ramped up her skepticism and denial in all the 'strange' things around her. That's why I tried to make her look less like a sword or a key as the others and something more different. It made her harder to decide on but I kind of like the wicked, exotic look of hers. Though the colors were there from the start. Red hair, red frames for her glasses and red being the color of love/lust so red Keyblade.

Mizuiro's was another easy one. I wanted his to look outwardly simple much how he presents himself to world around him. Again I found some good inspiration in the KH universe from Aqua's Keyblades and some from 358/2 Days.

Anyway like it, hate it, want more of it hit that review button and let me know. Like I said if there's enough demand I'll write more of this.


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